How This Guy Drops 10 Pounds a Month With Taco Tuesdays

Taco Tuesday loving Edward Ferrentino is no stranger to Cooking Light. He’s enjoyed the magazine for fifteen years and even has a favorite chili recipe that’s won him several chili cook-offs.

So, it’s no surprise that the Cooking Light Diet piqued his interest. He’d tried other meal plans before, but none that “could ever get the shopping list right.” Not so with the CLDiet, says Ferrentino. He and his wife, Shawna, have been successfully utilizing it on and off for two years.

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“Anytime I’m following it, I can drop 20 pounds within 2-3 months,” Ferrentino told us. “If I stayed on it, I could lose more. But life happens.”

Weight-loss benefits aside, Ferrentino shared with us some other positive—and unforeseen—changes the Cooking Light Diet has had on his life.

Variety

As with most humans, the Ferrentinos are creatures of habit. They do certain things all the time, but that instinct actually led Ferrentino to embark on a variety-riddled quest for the ages: Taco Tuesday every night for a year.

Ferrentino was using the Cooking Light Diet’s search tool one night to peruse taco recipes. Ultimately, he saw so many appealing options that he surmised there were enough to schedule an entire year’s worth of Taco Tuesdays. And that’s exactly what he did.

“Chicken one week, pork one week, fish the next,” Ferrentino said. “We make sure we’re getting variety every time…except no tofu!” It’s gotten to the point that Tuesdays are an event in their Florida household. Friends will reach out to ask what tacos are on the lineup for that particular Tuesday. Ferrentino claims he’s even become so adept at taco crafting that his tacos are better than the ones Shawna brings home from her part-time taco truck gig!

Another benefit of the available recipe variety is how easily the Ferrentinos can customize it around their preferences—they don’t eat a lot of bread or pastas. Furthermore, it’s made it extremely easy to pack and make meals for one of he and Shawna’s passions: Camping. The Ferrentinos love being outdoors, planning and embarking upon adventures year round. Their camping menus usually consist of—you guessed it—Cooking Light Diet meals. They have a rotation of several recipes that Ferrentino calls “super easy” to camp with, too. So regardless of where in the wilderness they find themselves, there’s never a shortage of delicious food.

Courtesy Edward Ferrentino

Cost

Another benefit of Ferrentino’s Cooking Light Diet subscription has been a financial one. He says using this service has really been a blessing in terms of their food budget.

Ferrentino also says they repurpose dinner leftovers for lunch the next day, which has likewise reduced their food budget. Plus, the search feature that helped him discover all those taco recipes enables them to use up what’s in their fridge, which in turn saves money. Those pros, coupled with the subscription cost of the Diet, has made Ferrentino a believer for life.

“Price point. The cost. That’s been huge for us, too. It’s a great value. $72 a year [at our $38/every six months price]. You guys are making my life a lot easier.”

Relationships

The Cooking Light Diet has also helped familial bonds in the Ferrentino household grow stronger. His stepdaughters love the meals and even the youngest, a picky eater, has requested repeats of specific recipes. Beyond that, though, it’s meant he and Shawna spend more time doing what they love, with the person they love most.

“It’s something we enjoy doing together, from the meal planning to the shopping [to the cooking]. I would absolutely say it’s brought us closer together.”